fine lines

This is the sort of BS that SHOULD be illegal & that we consumers need to be on top of for our own health & well-being! If we don’t empower ourselves with knowledge, or at least turn the container around to read the actual ingredients not just believe the marketing on the front or in an ad, we have no one to blame really but ourselves when we are misled. But, this saddens me greatly to see how horribly misleading marketers can be.

In the end guys, the “too bad, so sad” truth is that we must take charge of what we consume, buy, companies we support, check into what doctors recommend…everywhere. No one, or agency, will do that for us. Companies want our $$ first & foremost (some still do have ethics but the point is we have the tools to find out!) &, as you can see above, lies are par for the course in the beauty biz!

“Know your beauty” is the suki skincare core philosophy for a reason. We have to be our own advocates, grill brands, be the squeaky wheel! How else will we KNOW what we are actually ingesting? Cause we know it’s ALL ingested…topical lotions, patches, internal medications, air, food, etc.

It does blow my mind how cynical we are, yet we can’t wait to give up personal responsibility for the things that affect our own care! The current environment places personal responsibility for our reactions, feelings, etc. squarely on everyone (or anyone) ELSE’S shoulders! The government, healthcare, insurance systems, manufacturers, brands – these are not where to place our trust guys!

As far as LIPSENSE is concerned…BOOOO! This company is takes spin to a whole new level! See how they list toxic synthetics as healthy or efficacious? Bold!

Now please vegan folks hear me out. I’m not trying to anger you, but think beyond the label here. Do we really believe SYNTHETIC beeswax is BETTER for animals or the planet than healthy, ethical 100% pure beeswax? This is what I mean about thinking critically about the info we are inundated with. These synthetic ‘vegan’ ingredients will end up, yup, in the ground & drinking water (for the earth & animals to ingest)…do how is this truly “vegan?” Not to mention the staggering percentages of various cancers we have in our country we can’t put our finger on because there are many toxic pollutants in our food, air, water, earth!

I list all synthetics & their effects on this page on sukiskincare.com, please check it out when you have an ingredient question! J

Taking responsibility for our own choices is powerful…& my sincere hope is that more of us will take companies like these to task for blatant lies.

There are a whole lotta stereotypes about supermodels…and let’s let’s face it, most of them ironically, aren’t very attractive.

It’s easy to assume that anyone who makes a living from their looks is shallow, & we’ve seen some spectacular examples of self-consumed models entirely aware of only their, (taken quite literally) “first world problems,” which is where the term “like a spoiled brat” comes from. Babies don’t have the consciousness to know their crying can be upsetting to those around them. It’s their only way of communicating! ”Adults” should have developed communication skills beyond that of a baby. But in our culture, being obnoxious, stupid, rude, even downright psychotic makes you famous (or more famous)…no consequences (a horrific trend as well – thank you internet and all those “negotiating” style parents).

In any case, if we put the words model & hunger together, first things that come to mind are probably juice fasts and eating disorders. Sure, like most things in life it’s unfair, because all that beauty much of the time is far more than skin deep.

Take Karolína Kurková…best known as a Victoria’s Secret Angel, she is also a hardworking mom & advocate for the nearly 1 in 6 American families who can’t always put food on the table. That’s right, 1 in 6 in the “greatest country in the world,” the US of A.

And, it’s not always who you’d imagine—the loss of a job or a chronic illness can put nearly anyone in this position. I can personally attest to how, within just a few months of an accident, or any type of sustained trauma, in a time of stress, when the body / mind is already down or ill…can nearly if not entirely ruin your life over time. It can rob you of your personality, your friendships, your sense of self, your income and eventually your home even! It can happen quicker than you can imagine. When we find we are no longer reaching out to anyone and talking to them about our lives, asking for help, or talking at all, that is when things are in crisis mode and the time has passed for mild action and time to rev up to kick-ass action!

It’s great to support international charities, but sometimes we forget about the hidden hunger in our own backyards – probably because we demonize the hunger in America– making it easy to look away, to live without guilt or sense of shame or responsibility.

Topicals have a deep effect on the internal workings of the body – especially in babies, where you are programming early whole body wellness…This ridiculous “info” is put into the universe as gospel by well-meaning but uneducated, non-digging bloggers, or perpetuated by uneducated estheticians, dermatologists & the like.

I mean, let’s face it: most mainstream doc’s “thoughts” are placed there by their latest drug rep; estheticians, by great marketing & packaging from their latest skincare brand; derms, They rely on the prescription pad & latest fillers to make more dollars quick! everyone is a consumer, plain & simple – our docs & other pros are not at all immune, & our decades old treatment system was built in the 1920s (!) with rarely any fresh perspectives within the industry (& when they come along, whew is it hard to get folks to just think!).

Point is, like most articles, this totally misses the mark on eczema & the underlying causes of skin issues & how to treat them … so sad! no helpless infant will be saved long-term with Vaseline – & big surprise, the intuitive, easy connection here between eczema & later major side effects, “inevitable in most cases”, like asthma, etc. is just not made! not to mention how getting babies addicted early to petrochemicals preps them to need cortisone later – kinda like a sugar loaded diet prepares one for diabetes.

if people don’t head to naturopaths & other practitioners, get informed hardcore & demand better commitment to a well-rounded & current education from their doctors (who are supposed to be detectives, not pill dispensers), instead of short-term Rx fixes & BS topicals that provide no real nourishment or healing, they will create a cycle of long-term harm & more problems that must be treated – perpetuating a lifetime of both external & internal imbalances, discomfort & insecurities. boooo & grrrrrrr.

What’s wrong with this picture? I’m not there soaking up that sun & walking on that beach!

Ok, no seriously: “Before you even think about heading outside – even for a few moments – be certain to cover every inch of yourself with protection.” &, do not educate yourselves about what chemical blocks do to your insides, nor, to your skin, in fact do to your melanin production! Just do what we say! Proof? Ehhhh. Spin! Yeeeahhh! See we don’t say MALIGNANT melanomas when we speak, we just say skin cancer, we say melanomas. That is all…we like to confuse. Buy buy buy!

Ok, let’s try this again: “Before you head outside in the sun (um…yea…where the ozone is actually closing…WAIT? what? Later…), into the natural world, before you allow the evil, toxic sun (or is it our source of life & we’d actually be dead without it? I SO wish someone would tell me what to think here!) be absolutely certain to slather every inch with toxic chemicals that will at BEST clog your pores, create skin problems & keep you from getting any vitamin D, at WORST, cause reproductive toxicity, cancer or other long-term disease, IN-BETWEEN, we have the simple misdiagnosed fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, restless leg even & other such random aching that if you’ve ever had a vitamin D deficiency, you know it hurts like a….!” Ok got it!

Sure sounds more than illogical, just darn stupid when you lay the stone cold truth on the table, no? So why then are we robotically, going along with the brainwashing we’ve been sold for years now on the, “dangers of the sun?” Why are we buying sun care products in droves for our drives to work? When that is usually our ONLY time “outside?” Just like, why are we feeding our children legal speed to deal with their “diseases” of ADD, OCD (just as long as they aren’t outside running around god forbid!)? Are we so out of touch with our basic intuitive skills? Our own good judgement?

We inundate ourselves with pills to treat our real pain, yet never do the necessary work to solve the real problems we have. We look to our ‘doctors’ (note I did not say healers here), who do not even THINK to check for say…allergies, vitamin deficiencies, intestinal issues (where it all begins), or other such problems before going right to the most severe symptom treatment. We are over-prescribed antibiotics (further killing our bodies’ ability to develop the tools to heal), & even in the face of dermatologists (well, the you know, “edgy, weird ones”) who are actually, finally saying yes, non-malignant melanomas are not only highly treatable, but have nothing to do with malignant melanomas (which in turn have next to nothing to do with the sun!) but more in fact, to do with genetic disposition, lifestyle factors OTHER than sunshine…& do we relate this to the BOOMING business in sunblock each year? Nope. Call me cynical, but I’m also the one running on the beach happily, knowing the belly of the beast (the skincare industry) from the inside & knowing how little western physicians know…remember, nutrition is a one semester course to become a doctor…oy!

Even I used to believe we should only be in the sun of the morning or evening, come to find out THAT isn’t true! Midday sun, actually, is the best time for the body to receive UVB rays – not the UVA rays which cause melanomas. We NEED those UVB rays…so when you do go out, & I cannot plead with you enough to have your lunches outside, right there under the sun, unblocked, screened, shaded (& see the mood lift you get from it – hey, anything that makes us feel this good without a hangover can’t be bad :)!) for 15-20 minutes for a pale gal like me, longer for deeper skin tones. See for yourself after a few months how you feel. Do a vitamin D test, not to mention a full screen for vitamins, minerals, food allergies including a test for delayed food reactions – your doc will look at you like your insane…& in that moment you’ll know it’s time to keep him/her as your primary care & find a fabulous naturopath to be your detective, like, uhhhh “House”! What doctors used to be & no longer have the time for since they have insurance companies telling them they get 7.2 minutes’ per “customer”. Naturopaths, chiropractors (the GOOD ones only), homeopaths, & it’s true of all healers, you need to get a couple recommendations, there are the good, the bad & the lame…but your first visit should be extensive & take about two hours (no I’m not kidding).

By the way, you know Lyme disease, the epidemic of late? Most doctors will not find it with the ‘standard” test. You must go to specific labs who do the extensive Lyme testing & it will cost $$. Same for thyroid disease & many others. If you do not test for 3 things you will be told you do not have a thyroid condition even if you DO. Happened to me. Happened to several people I know with Lyme, so they ended up on antibiotics & fairly unable to do anything for YEARS. They could have died. This is the curse of the American medical system, & anyone’s innate trust in it… You see, we are in charge of our health. We are not babies who fall into a doctor’s arms without dong our own research. That’s just crazy, the best Western physician will agree. Haven’t we heard enough about people accidentally dying from bad or stupid prescription mixing or misdiagnosis, or doctors not doing the research they need to. Women being told they are depressed & years later, they finally find a TUMOR?!

Folks, do some in-depth reading on this…then dump the screen. Get some sun, a hat, & have some damn fun!

How did this hatred & fear of the sun come to pass? Think of a few expressions: someone who is generally cheerful is said to have a sunny disposition. There are hundreds of happy songs about riding to the beach with the convertible top down. & really, our moods change dramatically when the days turn from stormy to sunny, from cold to warm…in a heartbeat. Again, what’s wrong with this picture: someone who enjoys tending their garden sees the petals of the flowers & the plants’ leaves literally turning toward the sunlight each day, but nonetheless never ventures outside without first laying on the highest spf they can get their hands on.

Imagine this little Q&A: How does your garden grow? Fab! What makes it grow? Plenty of sunlight, plenty of water & lots of TLC. Do you treat yourself to the same? He**, no! I drink lots of water, & well, the sun is so toxic & will make me old before my time! I avoid it at all costs! This could not make less sense, but MOST people – gardeners or not – think exactly this way.

Consider the facts: there is increasing evidence that people who use synthetic sunscreens have a much higher incidence of skin cancer than those who refrain. According to one study, fully 85% of American citizens – the most sun block-worshipping people on the planet – suffer from a vitamin D deficiency.

Sunlight is a natural disinfectant, it’s also the only real source of essential vitamin D, despite what the chemical companies, mainstream synthetic skincare companies & not remotely in-the-know dermatologists will tell you…you cannot get the same form of vitamin D from synthetic vitamins, mock natural forms, or from food, & it just don’t work that way. Nature already made the perfect form…& everyone under the sun – there’s another one of those pro-solar expressions – would benefit & lower your risk of a host of debilitating diseases including colon, breast, prostate & ovarian cancer. Further, wearing an SPF of higher than 15 contributes to skin cancer! The higher the spf, the lower the UVA protection, & it’s UVA that is linked to DNA damage, which in turn is linked to malignant melanomas (which are linked to environmental & genetic predisposition).

Some other facts – it isn’t going to age you! All this talk about how the sun is the major cause of aging is I SWEAR, as much of a lie as that ANY cream can turn back the clock! &…SO frustrating! there is absolutely no evidence that the sun causes premature aging. Now, tanning & burning the skin, THAT is cause for concern and I would NEVER recommend this. But getting a healthy dose each day of screen-free sun…that will never cause you ill health, premature or unnecessary wrinkles. Ever. All it will do is keep you happy & healthy. & it really angers me that people have been made afraid of something so key to their good health. To sell products.

I’ve been happy to see the tide finally beginning to turn on attitudes about sun block. But this is an area where I still expect to be met with great resistance, not only from the mainstream media (however I did see a piece in Oprah on the need for vitamin D so we are getting somewhere) but also from people who have been told for so long that the sun is our enemy that they actually came to believe it…which, let’s face it, is most folks.

In the spirit of my tag line “know your beauty” it’s time to truly get past the scare tactics & to the truth — the sun is just one…but, here are a couple books to check out: The Healing Sun by Richard Horbday & The UV Advantage by Dr. Michael Hollick. You can check out Mr. Horbday’s site at: www.thehealingsun.org & Dr. Hollick’s at: www.uvadvantage.org

everywhere my TiVo or my mouse goes, I see the promise that my wrinkles will go away. that would be nice, right? but I know for a fact that once I get a wrinkle, it’s here to stay (unless of course, I decide to go under the knife or the needle).

but I’ve been in this business for more than a decade! I just came from a skincare expo where I thought most people would be fairly educated, but in fact, many used synthetic brands full of toxic chemicals that have been proven to cause cancer (& while we’re at it, they don’t get rid of wrinkles either!).

whatever your skin type, my core philosophy has always been & always will be to forget what the beauty magazines & so-called “experts” say. the very best way to figure out what’s best for your skin is to learn to “read” your skin & trust your intuition.

so here are 3 simple tips to help you & your skin get better acquainted on the path to skindependence:

there are five basic skin types: normal, dry, oily, combination & we will ALL go through the five basic skin types from time to time (based on environment, hormones, age, seasons, climate, time of the month – you get the picture), so it’s best to check in with your skin on a weekly basis or more. observe the texture, tone & level of sensitivity to figure out what your needs are in this moment.

everyone has their own unique skin concerns: redness, uneven skin tone, blemishes or acne, lines, sun damage, large pores, under-eye puffiness, dark circles & more. these “high maintenance” features of your skin (which also change over time) will determine what products are best for you right now. you may find that a product that worked great before is no longer serving you well, or a formerly too-rich moisturizer is now exactly what your skin craves.

remember, your lifestyle plays a big role in your skin’s needs. are you going through hormonal changes like pregnancy or menopause? have you started a new diet or exercise routine? how much time do you want to spend on your skin care regimen?

if you’re feeling puzzled by recent changes in your complexion, you can even try keeping a “skin diary” to see if patterns emerge. knowing your skin (just like knowing your ingredients & ‘thyself’) is the best way to understand what products will work for you & when.

we hear it all the time: “beauty is only skin deep…”, but how many of us truly believes that? &, how can we, when we know the reality is that beautiful opens doors, beautiful seems to have it all, or at least, has it soooo much easier in life? of course, it’s all relative—although beauty may seem to win the day, it is all relative & everyone has their problems—even those blessed with perfect symmetry & hair…& teeth…:-/

in fact, it seems like the most beautiful of women are actually the most insecure! how is that possible? but we see it all the time, no? these are the women how are more concerned with every blemish, line & 5 extra pounds, & never believe it when told they are pretty.

even though we all know that true beauty resides within (as every cosmetic company including yours truly reminds us…know your beauty!), in the end, we all want to look good on the outside…& there’s nothing wrong with that. wanting to be the best we can be is a good thing, it’s evolution, it’s part of our innate survival instinct! the problem is when we are torn up inside about every imperfection or addicted to the external so much that we ignore our inner selves, actually arresting our development so we not only long to stay youthful looking, but keep ourselves back emotionally too.

I’m not a big proponent of plastic surgery, however, I don’t fault anyone for doing whatever they wish to feel good about themselves. it is a slippery slope though, & we need to be very careful when delving into the world of easy fixes. we can be easily lured as if by the devil, into constant picking ourselves apart, wasting precious time on the past, not embracing our present & futures & all that comes with that. think about it – the freedom not to care what people think, the confidence that comes with experience, the joy of sharing them & helping others instead of being youthfully self-obsessed. there are so many great things that come with getting older. I’m just beginning to feel & see that myself & yes, sometimes it is challenging to see the changes, but that’s partially because it’s a learned behavior. if I’m honest, & not worried about people thinking I’m being conceited, I’ve gotten better looking as I’ve gotten older. it’s also incredible to experience how freeing maturity is too!

scientists have seen that hormonal reactions that determine our lifelong skin “blueprint” start in the womb so, best start embracing these faces now folks. it’s so important to choose to see our ourselves as beautiful individuals & not base our self-concept on air-brushed models or photo shopped celebs (&, seriously, I can’t understand why more people don’t see how ridiculous so many of them look after their latest surgery or whatever…it’s like we are a nation of robots who don’t notice stuff anymore!) I don’t think of my developing lines as the lines of age, but as smile lines, & sure, the ones between my brows reflect stress – that I’ve put into this business, getting my degree, getting through childhood…& I use that as motivation for my next phase of life, which is to “lower my mind,” deal with stress in a different way than I learned in childhood…become less reactionary & more thoughtful, breathe more. if I automatically dismissed & thought only negatively about myself, I reject my past, my history & all the experiences that make me the unique person I am & that is a terrible way to treat myself. what’s more, I should be complimenting myself for getting through it all & for not only surviving, but thriving! &…for having the cahones to want to do more work on myself in mid–life!

when I think of the most beautiful celebs, Robin Wright, Holly Hunter, Lauren Hutton, Patricia Clarkson, Julie Delpy, Glenn Close, Rita Wilson, Julie Christie & of course Meryl Streep come to mind…the ones who appear to be naturally aging & who seem to have all the confidence in the world…&…I kinda want to be like them!

but, I remind myself I am not them. they can be inspirational to me…but I have to look in the mirror & compliment myself…even even on what I feel like is my worst day…now, your turn! 🙂

know me :-)

I’m Suki, the founder, president & formulator of the brand suki® skincare. I’m also a long-time professional freelance writer & competitive pro / am ballroom dancer—this year a U.S. finalist in the Open American Smooth & Standard styles.

I started suki® because I grew up suffering physically & mentally from eczema, a condition that sent me hiding under baggy clothes in the corner while being bullied & teased. these experiences, among many others in my past, gave me the drive to create my company & the strength to become the person I am growing into. like many people who grew up, let’s say, a bit out of the norm, & are lucky enough to find “their tribe” & the help I did early on—my experience made me more competitive, compassionate & creative. I’m also motivated to give back like I’ve been given to.

the most rewarding part of my day is receiving a letter from anyone who has been helped by what I've done. I’m also so lucky to work with the amazing people at Bay Path University, Breast Cancer Action & the Komera Project.

here, I’ll always speak the truth—no BS, no fluff. I’ll answer your questions & talk...anything...uncovering the reality of labels, challenging conventional wisdom, revealing the hidden world of cosmetics from my “insider” perspective. you'll see sometimes, that much of this biz of making people pretty isn’t pretty at all. but as you'll also see, I really mean my philosophy of “know your beauty”!